How the Fear of Death Can Keep You From Living

Raise your hand if you have a fear of death. Come on, let’s see those hands. I for one used to be that person. The thought of dying paralyzed me in fear.There were so many things I actually avoided doing because well, what if I die? But let’s get real here. None of us know when or how we’re going to die. Just like none of us knew we were even going to be born.

Anyway, so awhile ago I read this mindblowing book called “The Afterlife of Billy Fingers” and I know I wrote about this a little bit before but I want to take this a little deeper this time. Now I get that the afterlife isn’t everyone’s thing. That’s cool. That’s not what we’re talking about here anyway.

The Fear of Death

I used to wonder how I was gonna die and if it was going to be horrifying and painful or if I was just gonna go to sleep and not wake up. You know, like most old people. Ideally, I think we all would rather go that way. Every now and then the thought still does cross my mind but only because I’m getting a wee bit older, I still do kinda smoke so having a heart attack is a possibility and honestly it could happen anytime. But that’s for any of us really.

But the fear of death doesn’t really have a hold on me anymore. Now I’m not saying I’m ready to die and am looking forward to it. Of course not. I’m just saying it is no longer gonna stop me from living the life I want to live. The life of joy, peace and ridiculous happiness that I deserve to live. Just like you.

Fear paralyzes us and keeps us from trying new things, going on new adventures and even from stepping out of our comfort zones but what about those of you who, let’s say, have a fear of flying because you think the plane is gonna crash and well, you’re gonna die. Or what about a fear of drowning so you don’t go on boats or cruises.

Or maybe just a fear of traveling all together because you think you’re gonna get in a car/bus/train wreck so it’s just best to stay put and watch the Discovery Channel instead.

Don’t you see?

Read that little blurb up above again. We don’t go anywhere because we’re afraid to die in a crash. Lemme tell ya something. This might come as a bit of a shocker to you but someone has to break it to you. You’re gonna die one day and oddly enough, you won’t know how or when.

Gasp! We didn’t come with instruction manuals or a death certificate that says “On this day Sally Brown will no longer exist on earth and she will leave this planet in this fashion_________”. Ya, we didn’t come with that. But here’s the kicker…

That shouldn’t stop you from living out your life to the fullest anyway. You were born, you go through life, you’ve done a ridiculous amount of things you never knew how to do and you didn’t die. Yay you! Don’t let your fear of death keep you from doing even more fun ridiculous things.

Life is to be lived in joy, not fear

There’s gonna come a time when you’re just going to have to take a step out of your “fear of death” comfort zone and start living. Do you want to be in a nursing home rocking in a chair and thinking “Oh man I wish I had done more things but my fears kept me from living a life I truly wanted to experience”. That sounds horrible.

Let’s go back to the fact that we don’t know when our number is up or how we’re gonna go. Now let’s also take into consideration that during our lifetime we have the wonderful opportunity to meet some truly amazing people who have done truly remarkable things and, get this, lived to tell about it. Whoa! They didn’t die??

You’re not here to simply exist. You didn’t make it out of all those millions and trillions of sperm just to sit in your lazy boy chair and watch TV and have your fear of death hold you hostage. We’re not hostages in this game of life. We’re active players (or at least we should be).

We are here to explore each and everything life offers us. We are here to enjoy, love, help, heal and play. We are here to embrace, encourage and have fun. We are here to learn and share what we’ve learned.

Be brave

It’s time for you to man/woman up and step into this game of life full on. It’s time for you to take your fear of death, laugh at it and go do some fun stuff you’ve always wanted to do but were always too afraid because, you know, that whole death thing. It’s time for you to stop letting fear, any kind of fear, hold you back from the life you deserve.

I’ve done some extremely ridiculous things in my days and guess what, I’m still here! Isn’t that amazing? Don’t worry about whether or not you’re going to die if you try something new. Instead, turn that into a positive thought and think about how absolutely amazing you will feel once you’ve accomplished it and are still alive to tell everyone how awesome it was to face your fear and do it.

Think of how proud and fantastic you will feel once you’ve accomplished your goal!! Think of all the people who will also be so proud of you! Not only that, but once you face one fear and overcome it, you’re gonna be on a roll and want to try more and more new things!!

Now that’s what I call living! Go live. No more flatlining. You’ll have plenty of time to do that when you’re dead. Haha! Ok, maybe a bad pun?

About Me

Iva Ursano is a retired hairstylist turned badass freelancer, who left behind 52 years of her life in Northern Ontario, Canada for a life of freedom, love and beauty in sunny Guatemala. She has two main purposes in life: stop malnutrition and help inspire people to live a life of joy and love. Check out her new self help guide From Hell to Happiness!